Symbolic referential third-party notification

ABSTRACT

User input including a social network notification symbol followed by a social network tag is detected in association with a social network user interface. The social network tag includes a text keyword that identifies a social network topic within the social network. A subset of social network users within the social network that follow the social network topic identified by the text keyword of the social network tag is determined. A referential third-party social network user notification subset within the social network is defined as the determined subset of social network users within the social network that follow the social network topic. A referential third-party social network notification is published to the defined referential third-party social network user notification subset within the social network. The referential third-party social network notification includes the detected user input that includes the social network notification symbol followed by the social network tag.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to social network notifications. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to symbolic referentialthird-party notification.

Social networks allow users to communicate with one another in an onlineweb-based environment. Social network groups may be formed from socialnetwork contacts. Social network users within a social network group maypost messages, photographs, and other information that may be viewed byother social network contacts within the social network group.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A method includes detecting, by a processor in association with a socialnetwork user interface, user input comprising a social networknotification symbol followed by a social network tag, where the socialnetwork tag comprises a text keyword that identifies a social networktopic within the social network; determining a subset of social networkusers within the social network that follow the social network topicidentified by the text keyword of the social network tag; defining areferential third-party social network user notification subset withinthe social network as the determined subset of social network userswithin the social network that follow the social network topic; andpublishing, to the defined referential third-party social network usernotification subset within the social network, a referential third-partysocial network notification comprising the detected user input thatcomprises the social network notification symbol followed by the socialnetwork tag.

A system includes an input device and a processor programmed to: detect,via the user input device in association with a social network userinterface, user input comprising a social network notification symbolfollowed by a social network tag, where the social network tag comprisesa text keyword that identifies a social network topic within the socialnetwork; determine a subset of social network users within the socialnetwork that follow the social network topic identified by the textkeyword of the social network tag; define a referential third-partysocial network user notification subset within the social network as thedetermined subset of social network users within the social network thatfollow the social network topic; and publish, to the defined referentialthird-party social network user notification subset within the socialnetwork, a referential third-party social network notificationcomprising the detected user input that comprises the social networknotification symbol followed by the social network tag.

A computer program product includes a computer readable storage mediumhaving computer readable program code embodied therewith, where thecomputer readable program code when executed on a computer causes thecomputer to: detect, in association with a social network userinterface, user input comprising a social network notification symbolfollowed by a social network tag, where the social network tag comprisesa text keyword that identifies a social network topic within the socialnetwork; determine a subset of social network users within the socialnetwork that follow the social network topic identified by the textkeyword of the social network tag; define a referential third-partysocial network user notification subset within the social network as thedetermined subset of social network users within the social network thatfollow the social network topic; and publish, to the defined referentialthird-party social network user notification subset within the socialnetwork, a referential third-party social network notificationcomprising the detected user input that comprises the social networknotification symbol followed by the social network tag.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of an implementation of a systemfor symbolic referential third-party notification according to anembodiment of the present subject matter;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example of an implementation of a coreprocessing module capable of performing symbolic referential third-partynotification according to an embodiment of the present subject matter;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an example of an implementation of a processfor symbolic referential third-party notification according to anembodiment of the present subject matter;

FIG. 4A is a flow chart of an example of an implementation of initialprocessing within a process for symbolic referential third-partynotification according to an embodiment of the present subject matter;and

FIG. 4B is a flow chart of an example of an implementation of additionalprocessing within the process of FIG. 4A for providing a list ofavailable tag keywords within a social network for symbolic referentialthird-party notification according to an embodiment of the presentsubject matter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The examples set forth below represent the necessary information toenable those skilled in the art to practice the invention and illustratethe best mode of practicing the invention. Upon reading the followingdescription in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilledin the art will understand the concepts of the invention and willrecognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressedherein. It should be understood that these concepts and applicationsfall within the scope of the disclosure and the accompanying claims.

The subject matter described herein provides symbolic referentialthird-party notification. The present technology provides referentialredirection of symbolic notifications. The notifications as entered by auser specify one or more social network tags to be used to redirect thenotifications themselves to third-party social network tag followers andtagged entities (e.g., users, organizations, etc.). Users of the presenttechnology may enter a designated social network notification symbolfollowed by a social network tag that includes a text keyword. Basedupon detection of the user input, a subset of social network userswithin the social network that follow a social network topic that isidentified by the text keyword of the social network tag is determined.A referential third-party social network user notification subset isdefined within the social network as the subset of social network usersthat follow the social network topic and/or that are tagged with therespective tag(s). The notification is published to the definedreferential third-party social network user notification subset withinthe social network.

As such, the symbolic referential third-party notification utilizesrecognized symbols and topic identifiers/keywords within the user inputto identify a targeted third-party subset of social network users thatare referentially associated with the topic identifiers (by following orbeing tagged with the tags within the social network). A notification isredirected to the targeted subset of social network users that arereferentially identified by their associations with the respective tags.The notification is sent to the respective social network users in thedefined referential third-party social network user notification subset.

It should be noted that the subset of social network users is alsonotified of the reason for being notified by the direct inclusion withinthe notification itself of the tag or tags that they follow or weretagged with within the social network. Accordingly, both thenotification itself and the logic by which the notification is deliveredare provided to the respective subset of social network users. Further,within the present description, the term to “mention” or to “notify” asocial network user means to directly send a public notification to thetargeted respective social network users, such as on the users' socialnetwork message board.

As described in more detail below, a social network user mayadditionally enter a question or statement in association with thereferential third-party notifications to elicit information, help,and/or feedback from the referenced third-party group of social networkusers. As such, user communication with other social network users withsimilar interests may be improved using the present technology.

For purposes of the examples that follow, social network notificationsymbols are represented using @mention notation (e.g., “@” followed byadditional text). However, it is understood that any form of socialnetwork notification symbol may be utilized in association with thepresent technology. For example, alternative social network notificationsymbols may include a double at symbol (e.g., “@ @”), a plus symbol(e.g., “+”), a double plus symbol (e.g., “++”), or any other form ofsocial network notification symbol appropriate for a givenimplementation.

Additionally, the examples that follow utilize tags that are formedusing a social network tag identification symbol followed by a keywordof a topic within a social network. Users may post information within asocial network using tags, or may tag other social network users withtags, meaning that the other social network users are “tagged” withinthe social network. A social network user that is tagged is therebyassociated with the topic identified by the text keyword of the tagwithin the social network.

For example, a network tag identification symbol, such as a pound symbol(e.g., “#”), may be followed by a keyword of a topic to formulate whatmay be referred to as a “hashtag.” However, it is understood that anyform of social network tag identification symbol may be utilized inassociation with the present technology to formulate a tag for use inassociation with the present technology. For example, alternative socialnetwork tag identification symbols from which tags may be formulated mayinclude a double pound symbol (e.g., “##”), a caret symbol (e.g., “^”),a double caret symbol (e.g., “^^”), or any other form of social networktag identification symbol appropriate for a given implementation. In anyimplementation, use of a social network tag identification symbol inconjunction with a topic keyword forms a “tag” for purposes of thepresent description.

Further, the examples that follow represent sequences of social networknotification symbols and tags as concatenated sequences for ease ofdescription purposes. However, it is additionally understood that one ormore spaces or other characters, such as underscores (e.g., “_”) ordashes (e.g., “-”), may be utilized to form combinations of socialnetwork notification symbols and tags, again as appropriate for a givenimplementation.

Continuing with the description of the present technology, user inputfor symbolic referential third-party notification may include a socialnetwork notification symbol followed by multiple tags (e.g.,“@#keyword1&#keyword2” or “@#keyword1#keyword2”). As can be seen fromthese examples, the multiple tags may be separated by logical operators(e.g., “&”). Where no logical operator separates the multiple tags, an“and” operation may be performed by default.

Where multiple tags are detected in association with a social networknotification symbol, combining and/or filtering of a social networkfollower and tagged entity may be performed. Processing of a combinedtag results in a combined and/or filtered referential third-party socialnetwork user notification subset.

The referential third-party social network notification may then be sentto the combined and/or filtered subsets of the respective social networktag followers and/or to social network entities that are tagged by eachof the particular combinations of tags. As such, the present technologyfurther facilitates construction of enhanced social network notificationsub-groups that are defined using established ad-hoc social networkgroups, but that do not otherwise exist within the social network. Theseenhanced social network notification sub-groups may further be reused.

Additionally, it should be noted that the ad-hoc social networknotification sub-groups and the enhanced (combined/filtered) socialnetwork notification sub-group remain relevant within the social networkas user interests change based upon the social network user's followinterests and entity tags. As user interests change over time, thenotifications to the ad-hoc social network notification sub-groups andthe enhanced social network notification sub-groups may remain availablefor interested users based upon follow interests and tagging within thesocial network.

The present technology may perform additional processing in response toreceipt of user input that combines one or more social networknotification symbols with social network tags. This processing may allowusers to engage with followers of a specific “tag”/topic without havingto become part of a particular social network group. Further, users mayengage with entities that are tagged with specific social network tagswithout the need to create a formal social connection (e.g., “friend”connection) within the social network, and the processing may provide away to generate a third-party redirected notification to other usersthat have been tagged with specific keywords in a particular post orstatus update.

Regarding detection of and specification of tags for third-partyreferential notification redirection, a user may be provided with anability to generate the notification to the referential subset of socialnetwork users as the user is entering the input (e.g., in real time).For example, if a user enters a status update post and denotes a socialnetwork notification symbol (e.g., “@” construct) followed by atag-related identification symbol (e.g., “#”), a type-ahead or pop-uplisting of available tags that are already being followed and that areavailable in the social network may be provided to the user forselection. The user may select one or more of the available listed andfollowed tags and the selected tag(s) may be appended to the socialnetwork notification symbol and the tag symbol (e.g., “@#keyword”) toinitiate a symbolic referential third-party notification to followers ofthe tag and/or to entities tagged with the respective tag(s). The usermay alternatively manually type the full tag names, as appropriate for agiven implementation.

Further regarding social network follower and entity tagging, if theuser enters another tag symbol (e.g., again “#” for purposes ofexample), an option may be provided to the user to combine the tags forthe third-party referential notification redirection. For example, asdescribed above, a constructed third-party referential notificationredirection, such as “@#keyword1&#keyword2,” may be specified. In thecase of a logical “and” operation (e.g., “&”) of the respective tags, acombined referential third-party social network user notification subsetmay be defined as the set of all social network users that follow or aretagged by both tags (e.g., each of “keyword1” and “keyword2”). Forpurposes of the present description, a logical “and” operator, such as“&” or “and,” may be considered a logical union operator.

Regarding additional social network follower and entity combination andfiltering options, users may be provided with options to notify peoplethat follow one tag and that specifically do not follow another tag(e.g., “@#keyword1&!#keyword2”). Within this example, the use of thecombination of the “and” symbol followed by the exclamation point symbol(“&!”) between the “keyword1” and the “keyword2” denotes inclusion ofthe followers of “keyword1,” but not the followers of “keyword2.” Assuch, the exclamation point represents follower groups/tags that are tobe excluded by filtering. For purposes of the present description, alogical exclusion operator, such as “&!” or “and not,” that specifiesexclusion of followers of one or more additional social network tag maybe considered a logical exclusion operator.

Other possible logical combinations of tags are possible. For example, aparallel mathematical symbol (e.g., “II”) may represent a logical “or”of the designated tags. In such a logical combination, a third-partyreferential @mention redirection such as “@keyword1 II keyword2” maygenerate notifications to social network users or entities that followor that are tagged with either “keyword1” or “keyword2.”

Additionally, the present technology provides for notifications to begenerated for new tags to specify new (non-existent) ad-hoc socialnetwork groups. For example, a user may create the third-partyreferential notification redirection prior to any other followers of thespecified tag(s) or any tagging of other social network users with thetag. When any social network user begins following the tag or group oftags, or when an entity is tagged with the tag specified within thesymbolic referential third-party notification, the followers or taggedentity may be provided with an option to receive historicalnotifications. Where the social network user/entity elects to receivethe historical notifications, the notification requested by the userthat created the third-party referential notification redirection may beprovided to the social network users or entities. As such, improvedcommunication opportunities with ad-hoc social network groups may endureto allow users to seek other users with whom to communicate on topics ofinterest even prior to any other social network users being interestedin the respective topics.

As an example use case of the present technology, it is presumed that auser desires to ask a question of persons that have knowledge about aparticular topic, such as analytics sessions for a particular productnamed “productName.” The user may generate a third-party referentialnotification redirection, such as:

“@#productName&#analytics What are the best productName analyticssessions to attend?”

Within this example, and regarding the scenario of social networkfollowers, a notification may be provided, based upon this third-partyreferential notification redirection, to all social network users thatfollow the tags “productName” and “analytics” within the social network.The generated notification may result in analytics experts that arefamiliar with the product referenced by “productName” providing the userwith suggestions/help with respect to preferred local or onlineanalytics sessions related to the identified product. Further, thepresent technology may be configured to prioritize symbolic referentialthird-party notifications ahead of general postings to a follower'smessage board.

As such, a tag follower with knowledge of both combined topics may seethe notification/request prioritized in their notifications ahead ofother related posts to the respective topics in their stream ofpostings, and may further recognize the request as more important thangeneral postings or may recognize that the user is requestingfeedback/help on the topic(s) rather than just generating aninformational posting. The tag follower may know immediately from thenotification itself both the text updated to user's notifications andthe specific reason/logic with respect to why the notification wassurfaced/prioritized (e.g., because the user is following both of thetwo tags). The tag follower then may quickly offer assistance to therequesting user based upon the prioritized notification provided by thethird-party referential notification redirection, and may read and otherinformational posting of only “#keywords” when the tag follower has moreavailable reading time. Again, as described above, no formal socialnetwork connection has to be formed between the two users because thesymbolic referential third-party notification reuses existing ad-hocfollower groups and generates targeted notifications to these followers(and to tagged social network users).

Continuing with the current example, and regarding the scenario ofentities that have been tagged, a notification may be provided basedupon this third-party referential notification redirection to allentities and/or social network users that have been tagged with“productName,” such as “presenters” of analytics sessions. As such, thepresent technology utilizes tagged individuals and entities to identifypersons that may be able to answer to the user's question.

The notifications described herein may also be displayed to contacts ofthe social network follower contacts. Again continuing with the currentexample, where a respective social network tag follower agrees to havenotifications that are generated using the third-party referentialnotification redirection displayed on the follower's profile page ormessage board so that contacts of the follower may see thenotifications, the post may be augmented with the follower's socialnetwork identifier (e.g., Person A) and may be displayed to thefollower's social network contacts as:

“@PersonA (#productName&#analytics) What are the best productNameanalytics sessions to attend?”

Within this context, the specific tag(s) and the actual question areposted to the follower's message board, so that the follower's contactssee the notification and the logic by which the follower received thenotification. This provides a clear indication of who received thethird-party referential notification redirection and why that socialnetwork user/entity received the third-party referential notificationredirection. As such, and as introduced above, the third-partyreferential notification redirection exposes the logic by which theparticular user/entity was notified because the reasoning behind thenotification is posted with the notification itself to the messageboard.

Further, a different/unique font and/or style may be applied tothird-party referential notification redirection based upon thefollowing versus entity-tagged scenarios to further distinguish how therespective notifications reached the respective users/entities. As such,other social network users may learn how particular social networkusers/entities are sought after for expertise in particular areas ofinterest to the respective social network users/entities. This mayfurther help to bring the respective social network users/entities tothe forefront of recognition in their particular fields of study orprofession by other social network users as reflected in theirparticular areas of interest.

As such, the present technology allows an author of content posted to asocial network to notify both all social network users that follow oneor more tags (all followers may be notified) and further allows allsocial network users/entities that are tagged within content referencesto be notified. Users may select inputs, tags and rules (e.g., logicalcombinations of tags) in combination to control notifications tofollowers and tagged users. Many possible implementations of third-partyreferential notification redirection are possible, and all suchpossibilities are considered within the scope of the present subjectmatter.

It should be noted that conception of the present subject matterresulted from recognition of certain limitations associated with socialmedia notification mechanisms. For example, it was observed that“hashtags” are used by certain social networks to provide a semblance oforganization/order for social network posts. It was also observed thathashtags may be used to search for or gain access to information withinsocial networks, such as to search for content related to a topic or toenable users to “follow” topics or to post information to topics, andthat hashtags may be used to “tag” individual users. Additionally, itwas observed that followers of a hashtag may represent an ad-hoc groupof users that may not otherwise be defined as a group within the socialnetwork. It was further observed that, while users may followhashtags/topics within social networks, the increased amount of contentthat is being created within social networks often makes it prohibitivefor every user that is following a given hashtag to read the entirethread of associated content. It was additionally observed that there isa difference between general postings and notifications. For example, itwas observed that a conventional posting with a hashtag requiresfollowers to actually find and read the posting. The present technologyactually notifies third-party entities that have been tagged orthird-party followers of a tag that a request to interact with taggedusers or followers of the tag has been posted. Further, the presenttechnology allows a user to request feedback/information from taggedusers or followers of a tag, or to just generally notify or emphasizeinformation to tagged users or to followers (“FYI”) of the tag).

In view of these observations, it was determined that prior socialnetwork technologies do not enable generation of notifications tothird-party users that have been tagged and do not enable generation ofnotifications to ad-hoc third-party groups that are defined withinsocial networks using hashtags (e.g., followers of hashtags). It wasfurther determined that technology that enables users to generatenotifications within social networks to third-party users that have beentagged and to generate notifications to ad-hoc third-party groups thatare defined within social networks using hashtags was desirable. It wasfurther determined that a mechanism by which to @mention people withspecific characteristics from a status update input area would also bedesirable. It was additionally determined that it was desirable toprovide scope filtering and flexibility by allowing an @mention toreference multiple hashtags so that people that “like”/follow multiplepages may be identified and notified (e.g., a subset potentially offollowers of only a single hashtag).

The present subject matter improves social network notificationtechnology by providing for symbolic referential third-partynotification, as described above and in more detail below. The presenttechnology further provides a mechanism to construct ad-hoc notificationgroups that remain relevant with respect to social network userinterests based upon the social network user's follow interests andtagging. As such, improved social network notification may be obtainedthrough use of the present technology.

The symbolic referential third-party notification described herein maybe performed in real time to allow prompt social network notification tothird-parties, such as followers of hashtags and tagged social networkusers. For purposes of the present description, real time shall includeany time frame of sufficiently short duration as to provide reasonableresponse time for information processing acceptable to a user of thesubject matter described. Additionally, the term “real time” shallinclude what is commonly termed “near real time”—generally meaning anytime frame of sufficiently short duration as to provide reasonableresponse time for on-demand information processing acceptable to a userof the subject matter described (e.g., within a portion of a second orwithin a few seconds). These terms, while difficult to precisely defineare well understood by those skilled in the art.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of an implementation of a system100 for symbolic referential third-party notification. A computingdevice_1 102 through a computing device_N 104 communicate via a network106 with several other devices. The other devices include a server_1 108through a server_M 110 and a tag database 112. The tag database 112 maybe implemented as one or more databases and may store tags that aredefined within one or more social networks provided by the server_1 108through the server_M 110.

As will be described in more detail below in association with FIG. 2through FIG. 4B, the computing device_1 102 through the computingdevice_N 104 and/or the server_1 108 through the server_M 110 may eachprovide automated symbolic referential third-party notification. Theautomated symbolic referential third-party notification is based upondefinition of referential third-party social network user notificationsubsets within the social network based upon one or more symbolicreferences to third-parties, such as tags that indirectly form ad-hocgroups of followers of topics within a social network. The presenttechnology may be implemented at a user computing device or serverdevice level. A variety of possibilities exist for implementation of thepresent subject matter, and all such possibilities are considered withinthe scope of the present subject matter.

It should be noted that any of the respective computing devicesdescribed in association with FIG. 1 may be portable computing devices,either by a user's ability to move the respective computing devices todifferent locations, or by the respective computing device's associationwith a portable platform, such as a plane, train, automobile, or othermoving vehicle. It should also be noted that the respective computingdevices may be any computing devices capable of processing informationas described above and in more detail below. For example, the respectivecomputing devices may include devices such as a personal computer (e.g.,desktop, laptop, etc.) or a handheld device (e.g., cellular telephone,personal digital assistant (PDA), email device, music recording orplayback device, tablet computing device, e-book reading device, etc.),a web server, an application server, or other data server device, or anyother device capable of processing information as described above and inmore detail below.

The network 106 may include any form of interconnection suitable for theintended purpose, including a private or public network such as anintranet or the Internet, respectively, direct inter-moduleinterconnection, dial-up, wireless, or any other interconnectionmechanism capable of interconnecting the respective devices.

The tag database 112 may include a relational database, an objectdatabase, or any other storage type of device. As such, the tag database112 may be implemented as appropriate for a given implementation.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example of an implementation of a coreprocessing module 200 capable of performing symbolic referentialthird-party notification. The core processing module 200 may beassociated with either the computing device_1 102 through the computingdevice_N 104 or with the server_1 108 through the server_M 110, asappropriate for a given implementation. As such, the core processingmodule 200 is described generally herein, though it is understood thatmany variations on implementation of the components within the coreprocessing module 200 are possible and all such variations are withinthe scope of the present subject matter.

Further, the core processing module 200 may provide different andcomplementary processing of symbolic referential third-partynotification in association with each implementation. As such, for anyof the examples below, it is understood that any aspect of functionalitydescribed with respect to any one device that is described inconjunction with another device (e.g., sends/sending, etc.) is to beunderstood to concurrently describe the functionality of the otherrespective device (e.g., receives/receiving, etc.).

A central processing unit (CPU) 202 (“processor”) provides hardware thatperforms computer instruction execution, computation, and othercapabilities within the core processing module 200. A display 204provides visual information to a user of the core processing module 200and an input device 206 provides input capabilities for the user.

The display 204 may include any display device, such as a cathode raytube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD), light emitting diode (LED),electronic ink displays, projection, touchscreen, or other displayelement or panel. The input device 206 may include a computer keyboard,a keypad, a mouse, a pen, a joystick, touchscreen, voice commandprocessing unit, or any other type of input device by which the user mayinteract with and respond to information on the display 204.

It should be noted that the display 204 and the input device 206 may beoptional components for the core processing module 200 for certainimplementations/devices, or may be located remotely from the respectivedevices and hosted by another computing device that is in communicationwith the respective devices. Accordingly, the core processing module 200may operate as a completely automated embedded device without directuser configurability or feedback. However, the core processing module200 may also provide user feedback and configurability via the display204 and the input device 206, respectively, as appropriate for a givenimplementation.

A communication module 208 provides hardware, protocol stack processing,and interconnection capabilities that allow the core processing module200 to communicate with other modules within the system 100. Thecommunication module 208 may include any electrical, protocol, andprotocol conversion capabilities useable to provide interconnectioncapabilities, appropriate for a given implementation.

A memory 210 includes a tag and user association storage and processingarea 212 that stores associations between tags and social network userswithin the core processing module 200. As will be described in moredetail below, associations between tags and social network users storedwithin the tag and user association storage and processing area 212 isused to determine subsets of social network users within a socialnetwork that follow the social network topic identified by a textkeyword of a social network tag or that are tagged by the respectivetags.

The memory 210 also includes a symbolic referential third-partynotification processing area 214. The symbolic referential third-partynotification processing area 214 provides processing and storage fordefining a referential third-party social network user notificationsubset within a social network in view of determined subsets of socialnetwork users within the social network that follow the social networktopic as associated within the tag and user association storage andprocessing area 212. The symbolic referential third-party notificationprocessing area 214 also provides storage and processing space forpublished referential third-party social network notifications androuting of responses to users.

It is understood that the memory 210 may include any combination ofvolatile and non-volatile memory suitable for the intended purpose,distributed or localized as appropriate, and may include other memorysegments not illustrated within the present example for ease ofillustration purposes. For example, the memory 210 may include a codestorage area, an operating system storage area, a code execution area,and a data area without departure from the scope of the present subjectmatter.

A symbolic referential third-party notification module 216 is alsoillustrated. The symbolic referential third-party notification module216 provides evaluation of tag associations with social network users,and provides generation and processing of symbolic referentialthird-party notifications within the core processing module 200, asdescribed above and in more detail below. The symbolic referentialthird-party notification module 216 implements the automated symbolicreferential third-party notification of the core processing module 200.

It should be noted that the symbolic referential third-partynotification module 216 may form a portion of other circuitry describedwithout departure from the scope of the present subject matter. Further,the symbolic referential third-party notification module 216 mayalternatively be implemented as an application stored within the memory210. In such an implementation, the symbolic referential third-partynotification module 216 may include instructions executed by the CPU 202for performing the functionality described herein. The CPU 202 mayexecute these instructions to provide the processing capabilitiesdescribed above and in more detail below for the core processing module200. The symbolic referential third-party notification module 216 mayform a portion of an interrupt service routine (ISR), a portion of anoperating system, a portion of a browser application, or a portion of aseparate application without departure from the scope of the presentsubject matter.

The tag database 112 is again shown within FIG. 2 associated with thecore processing module 200, and may provide available tags that aredefined within a social network for selection by users in associationwith the symbolic referential third-party notification described herein.As such, the tag database 112 may be operatively coupled to the coreprocessing module 200 without use of network connectivity, asappropriate for a given implementation.

The CPU 202, the display 204, the input device 206, the communicationmodule 208, the memory 210, the symbolic referential third-partynotification module 216, and the tag database 112 are interconnected viaan interconnection 218. The interconnection 218 may include a systembus, a network, or any other interconnection capable of providing therespective components with suitable interconnection for the respectivepurpose.

Though the different modules illustrated within FIG. 2 are illustratedas component-level modules for ease of illustration and descriptionpurposes, it should be noted that these modules may include anyhardware, programmed processor(s), and memory used to carry out thefunctions of the respective modules as described above and in moredetail below. For example, the modules may include additional controllercircuitry in the form of application specific integrated circuits(ASICs), processors, antennas, and/or discrete integrated circuits andcomponents for performing communication and electrical controlactivities associated with the respective modules. Additionally, themodules may include interrupt-level, stack-level, and application-levelmodules as appropriate. Furthermore, the modules may include any memorycomponents used for storage, execution, and data processing forperforming processing activities associated with the respective modules.The modules may also form a portion of other circuitry described or maybe combined without departure from the scope of the present subjectmatter.

Additionally, while the core processing module 200 is illustrated withand has certain components described, other modules and components maybe associated with the core processing module 200 without departure fromthe scope of the present subject matter. Additionally, it should benoted that, while the core processing module 200 is described as asingle device for ease of illustration purposes, the components withinthe core processing module 200 may be co-located or distributed andinterconnected via a network without departure from the scope of thepresent subject matter. For a distributed arrangement, the display 204and the input device 206 may be located at a point of sale device,kiosk, or other location, while the CPU 202 and memory 210 may belocated at a local or remote server. Many other possible arrangementsfor components of the core processing module 200 are possible and allare considered within the scope of the present subject matter. It shouldalso be understood that, though the tag database 112 is illustrated as aseparate component for purposes of example, the information storedwithin the tag database 112 may also/alternatively be stored within thememory 210 without departure from the scope of the present subjectmatter. Accordingly, the core processing module 200 may take many formsand may be associated with many platforms.

FIG. 3 through FIG. 4B described below represent example processes thatmay be executed by devices, such as the core processing module 200, toperform the automated symbolic referential third-party notificationassociated with the present subject matter. Many other variations on theexample processes are possible and all are considered within the scopeof the present subject matter. The example processes may be performed bymodules, such as the symbolic referential third-party notificationmodule 216 and/or executed by the CPU 202, associated with such devices.It should be noted that time out procedures and other error controlprocedures are not illustrated within the example processes describedbelow for ease of illustration purposes. However, it is understood thatall such procedures are considered to be within the scope of the presentsubject matter. Further, the described processes may be combined,sequences of the processing described may be changed, and additionalprocessing may be added or removed without departure from the scope ofthe present subject matter.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an example of an implementation of a process300 for symbolic referential third-party notification. At block 302, theprocess 300 detects, by a processor in association with a social networkuser interface, user input comprising a social network notificationsymbol followed by a social network tag, where the social network tagcomprises a text keyword that identifies a social network topic withinthe social network. At block 304, the process 300 determines a subset ofsocial network users within the social network that follow the socialnetwork topic identified by the text keyword of the social network tag.At block 306, the process 300 defines a referential third-party socialnetwork user notification subset within the social network as thedetermined subset of social network users within the social network thatfollow the social network topic. At block 308, the process 300publishes, to the defined referential third-party social network usernotification subset within the social network, a referential third-partysocial network notification comprising the detected user input thatcomprises the social network notification symbol followed by the socialnetwork tag.

FIGS. 4A-4B illustrate a flow chart of an example of an implementationof a process 400 for symbolic referential third-party notification. FIG.4A illustrates initial processing within the process 400. At decisionpoint 402, the process 400 makes a determination as to whether a socialnetwork notification symbol has been detected. As described above, thesocial network notification symbol may include an at (e.g., “@”) symbol.In response to determining that a social network notification symbol hasbeen detected, the process 400 makes a determination at decision point404 as to whether a social network tag identification symbol has beendetected. As described above, a social network tag may include a socialnetwork tag identification symbol followed by or concatenated with atext keyword that identifies a social network topic within the socialnetwork. As also described above, a network tag identification symbol,such as a pound symbol (e.g., “#”), may be followed by a keyword of atopic to formulate what may be referred to as a “hashtag.” As such, theprocess 400 makes a determination as to whether user input that includesa social network notification symbol followed by or concatenated with asocial network tag identification symbol has been detected. In responseto determining that user input that includes a social networknotification symbol followed by or concatenated with a social networktag identification symbol has not been detected, the process 400 returnsto decision point 402 and iterates as described above.

Returning to the description of decision point 404, in response todetermining that user input that includes a social network notificationsymbol followed by or concatenated with a social network tagidentification symbol has been detected, the process 400 makes adetermination at decision point 406 as to whether to provide keywords tothe user that represent topics within the social network or whether theuser wishes to manually enter the topic keywords. The determination atdecision point 406 may be performed, for example, in response toprompting the user with an option to be provided with keywords ofavailable tag topics within the social network from which to select oneor more topics for use in symbolic referential third-party notification.

In response to determining that the user has elected to manually enterthe topic keywords, the process 400 identifies one or more user-inputtedtext keywords of social network topics to formulate tags (includingadditional social network tag identification symbols and combinationlogic) and any additional text portion of user input at block 408. Asalso described above, the present technology provides for notificationsof non-existent ad-hoc groups. As such users may manually enter keywordsfor topics that are not currently followed within a social network sothat as other social network users begin following the tags, anyquestions presented may be made available to the users as part of thehistorical context associated with the respective tags.

As also described above, a user may logically combine two or more tagsusing a logical combination operator to identify subsets of socialnetwork users within a social network that follow a combination of tags(e.g., a logical “and” of followers of multiple tags). Further,filtering may be performed to identify subsets of social network usersto follow one tag and that expressly do not follow another tag (e.g., alogical filtering or exclusion of followers of one or more tags).

Additionally, users may enter additional text portions, such asquestions or other comments that will be posted to the followers andtagged social network users that are associated with the respectivetags. A social network notification that includes the additional textportion of the user may be published to the respective followers andtagged social network users. As such, social network users may elicitresponses from followers and tagged social network users of one or moretags by use of additional text portion(s) that are published as part ofa redirected social network notification. Additional processing afterdecision point 408 within FIG. 4A will be deferred and discussed in moredetail further below.

Returning to the description of decision point 406, in response todetermining that the user has elected to be provided with keywords ofavailable tag topics within the social network from which to select oneor more topics for use in symbolic referential third-party notification,the process 400 transitions to the processing shown and described inassociation with FIG. 4B.

FIG. 4B illustrates additional processing associated with the process400 of FIG. 4A for providing a list of available tag keywords within asocial network for symbolic referential third-party notification. Atblock 410, the process 400 provides a list of currently-available (e.g.,followed) tag keywords within the social network. At decision point 412,the process 400 makes a determination as to whether user selection ofone of the currently-available tag keywords has been detected. Inresponse to determining that a user selection of one of thecurrently-available tag keywords has been detected and received, theprocess 400 appends the user-selected keyword to the social networknotification symbol and the tag identification symbol at block 414.

It should be noted, as described above and in more detail below, that auser may select more than one keyword from the list to form a logicalcombination of keywords. In such a situation, the user may further beprovided with logical operators from which to select and combinesequentially-selected keywords, and the process 400 may detect andreceive user selections of logical operators in association withdetection and receipt of additional keywords. As such, the processing atblock 414 may further include appending any selected logical operator toa previously-selected keyword followed by an additional tagidentification symbol followed by a currently-selected keyword todesignate the currently-selected keyword as an additional tag (e.g.,collectively “combination logic”). The processing may further iterate asadditional logical operators and keywords are selected by the user toiteratively construct a logical combination of tags as described aboveand in more detail below.

At decision point 416, the process 400 makes a determination as towhether user selection of tag keywords has been completed. For example,a user may be provided with a button within a dialog box for selectionof currently-available keywords that indicates that selection has beencompleted and the process 400 may detect selection of such a button bythe user. In response to determining at decision point 416 that userselection of keywords has not been completed, the process 400 provides alogical operator selection list to the user at block 418 as introducedabove. As described above, many logical operators are possible for thecombination of tags and topic keywords to identify subsets of socialnetwork users that follow or do not follow multiple tags.

A logical “and” operator (e.g., “&” or “and”) may be used.Alternatively, a logical option to notify people that follow one tag andthat do not follow another tag (e.g., “@#keyword1 &!#keyword2”) may beused. Many other possible logical combinations of tags are possible, andall such possibilities for logical combinations of tags are consideredwithin the scope of the present subject matter.

The process 400 again provides the list of currently-available tagkeywords at block 410 and iterates as described above to append anyuser-selected logical operators and additional user-selected keywords toform a concatenated character sequence that represents a logicalcombination of tag keywords as specified by the user. Returning to thedescription of decision point 416, in response to determining that userselection of available tag keywords is completed, the process 400prompts the user to enter a question or other statement to be publishedto the respective followers and tagged social network users associatedwith the entered keyword(s) at block 420.

At decision point 422, the process 400 makes a determination as towhether a question or statement has been entered by the user. Inresponse to determining that a question or statement has been entered bythe user, the process 400 appends the question or statement text to theconcatenated character sequence at block 424.

In response to appending the question or statement text the concatenatedcharacter sequence at block 424, or in response to determining atdecision point 422 that a question or statement text has not beenentered by the user, the process 400 returns to the processingillustrated in FIG. 4A.

As described above in association with decision point 406 in FIG. 4A,the user may elect to manually enter keywords and text at block 408, ormay use listings of available keywords as described above in associationwith FIG. 4B. As such, in response to completion of the processing atblock 408 or the processing described above in association with FIG. 4B,the process 400 begins processing to iteratively determine subsets ofthe social network users that follow each specified topic by determininga subset of social network users that follow a selected one of thespecified topics at block 426.

At decision point 428, the process 400 makes a determination as towhether there is an additional topic for which to identify and determinea subset of social network users. In response to determining that thereis at least one additional topic for which to identify and determine asubset of social network users, process 400 returns to block 426 todetermine the respective subset of social network users that follow thespecified topic.

In response to determining at decision point 428 that there are noadditional topics the process (all topics have been processed), theprocess 400 defines, at block 430, a social network notification subsetincluding any logical combination of multiple subsets of social networkusers that have been specified by the user. For example, where the userspecifies a logical combination operator that includes a logical unionoperator, the process 400 may form a logical combination of socialnetwork users as a logical union of all of the determined subsets ofsocial network users within the social network that follow the socialnetwork topic and the determined additional subset of social networkusers within the social network that follow the additional socialnetwork topic. Alternatively, where the user specifies a logicalcombination operator that includes a logical exclusion operator thatspecifies exclusion of followers of the additional social network tag,the process 400 may form a logical combination of social network usersas a filtered exclusion of one of the determined subset of socialnetwork users within the social network that follow the social networktopic and the determined additional subset of social network userswithin the social network that follow the additional social networktopic.

At decision point 432, the process 400 makes determination as to whetherto add any tagged users to the defined social network user notificationsubset. In response to determining to add a least one tagged socialnetwork user to the defined social network user notification subset, theprocess 400 adds any additional social network users that are taggedwith any associated text keywords within the social network to thedefined social network user notification subset at block 434.

At block 436, the process 400 publishes a social network notificationwith the user input to the defined social network notification subset.The process 400 publishes the social network notification that includesthe detected user input that itself includes the social networknotification symbol concatenated with a social network tag (and anylogical combination of tags or additional text such as a question orstatement) to the defined social network user notification subset withinthe social network.

As described above, the publication of the social network notificationto the defined subset of social network users surfaces both thenotification itself and the logic that resulted in the notification torespective message boards of the social network users within the definedsocial network user notification subset, meaning that the notificationitself includes the actual text entered by the user. The actual textentered by the user is used to identify the respective set of followersand tagged users, and as such provides the logic by which the socialnetwork user notification subset of social network users was derived. Assuch, the notified social network users will see the actual tag orlogical combination of tags by which they were notified, which exposesthe logic by which the social network user notification subset wasdefined.

At decision point 438, the process 400 makes a determination as towhether one or more responses have been received from social networkusers that were notified by the social network notification. Forexample, social network users may respond to questions posed within thesocial network notification by responding directly to the posting socialnetwork user. As such, in response to determining that one or moreresponses have been received from the social network users that werenotified by the social network notification, the process 400 sends therespective responses to the requesting user at block 440. In response tosending any received responses to the requesting user at block 440, orin response to determining at decision point 438 that no responses havebeen received (e.g., no question was posed to the notification subset),the process 400 makes a determination at decision point 442 as towhether all processing is completed for the respective social networknotification. For example, an extended time period for social networkuser responses may be configured. As such, in response to determining atdecision point 442 that all processing is not completed for therespective social network notification, the process 400 returns todecision point 438 and iterates as described above. In response todetermining at decision point 442 that all processing is completed forthe respective social network notification, the process 400 returns todecision point 402 and iterates as described above.

As such, the process 400 allows social network users to define ad-hocsocial network groups to which to generate social network notificationsto interact with followers of tags and tagged social network users. Thesocial network users may use tags to represent followed topics and maydefine tags that do not currently exist within the social network forwhich to elicit social network user responses. Social network usernotification subsets and logical combinations of ad-hoc groups of socialnetwork users may be combined to form and define social network usernotification subsets. The social network notification includes the tagsentered by the user, and as such, includes the logic by which therespective social network users are notified. Accordingly, therespective social network users that are notified by the social networknotification may understand the reason for the notification directlyfrom the notification itself, and may respond more comprehensively basedupon that understanding of why they were notified.

As described above in association with FIG. 1 through FIG. 4B, theexample systems and processes provide symbolic referential third-partynotification. Many other variations and additional activities associatedwith symbolic referential third-party notification are possible and allare considered within the scope of the present subject matter.

Those skilled in the art will recognize, upon consideration of the aboveteachings, that certain of the above examples are based upon use of aprogrammed processor, such as the CPU 202. However, the invention is notlimited to such example embodiments, since other embodiments could beimplemented using hardware component equivalents such as special purposehardware and/or dedicated processors. Similarly, general purposecomputers, microprocessor based computers, micro-controllers, opticalcomputers, analog computers, dedicated processors, application specificcircuits and/or dedicated hard wired logic may be used to constructalternative equivalent embodiments.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present invention has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art basedupon the teachings herein without departing from the scope and spirit ofthe invention. The subject matter was described to explain theprinciples of the invention and the practical application, and to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a user input device; and aprocessor programmed to: detect, via the user input device inassociation with a social network user interface, user input comprisinga social network notification symbol followed by a social network tag,where the social network tag comprises a text keyword that identifies asocial network topic within the social network; determine a subset ofsocial network users within the social network that follow the socialnetwork topic identified by the text keyword of the social network tag;define a referential third-party social network user notification subsetwithin the social network as the determined subset of social networkusers within the social network that follow the social network topic;and publish, to the defined referential third-party social network usernotification subset within the social network, a referential third-partysocial network notification comprising the detected user input thatcomprises the social network notification symbol followed by the socialnetwork tag.
 2. The system of claim 1, where the processor is furtherprogrammed to: detect, via the user input device, an additional textportion of the user input following the social network notificationsymbol and the social network tag, where the additional text portion ofthe user input comprises a question asked by the user within the userinput; where, in being programmed to publish, to the defined referentialthird-party social network user notification subset within the socialnetwork, the referential third-party social network notificationcomprising the detected user input that comprises the social networknotification symbol followed by the social network tag, the processor isprogrammed to: publish the social network notification symbol followedby the social network tag followed by the additional text portion of theuser input within the referential third-party social networknotification; detect, via the user input device, a response to thequestion from at least one social network user that received thereferential third-party social network notification; and send thedetected response to the user that asked the question published withinthe referential third-party social network notification.
 3. The systemof claim 1, where the processor is further programmed to: add, to thedefined referential third-party social network user notification subset,at least one additional social network user tagged within the socialnetwork with the social network tag.
 4. The system of claim 1, where theuser input further comprises a logical combination operator specified bythe user and an additional social network tag, where the additionalsocial network tag comprises an additional text keyword that identifiesan additional social network topic within the social network, and theprocessor is further programmed to: determine an additional subset ofsocial network users within the social network that follow theadditional social network topic identified by the additional textkeyword of the additional social network tag; and where, in beingprogrammed to define the referential third-party social network usernotification subset within the social network further, the processor isprogrammed to: define the referential third-party social network usernotification subset within the social network as a logical combinationof the determined subset of the social network users that follow thesocial network topic and the determined additional subset of the socialnetwork users that follow the additional social network topic.
 5. Thesystem of claim 4, where, in being programmed to define the referentialthird-party social network user notification subset within the socialnetwork as the logical combination of the determined subset of thesocial network users that follow the social network topic and thedetermined additional subset of the social network users that follow theadditional social network topic, the processor is programmed to one of:where the logical combination operator comprises a logical unionoperator: form a logical union of all of the determined subset of thesocial network users that follow the social network topic and thedetermined additional subset of the social network users that follow theadditional social network topic; and where the logical combinationoperator comprises a logical exclusion operator that specifies exclusionof followers of the additional social network tag: filter to remove anysocial network users that follow the additional social network topicidentified by the additional text keyword of the additional socialnetwork tag from the subset of the social network users that follow thesocial network topic identified by the text keyword of the socialnetwork tag.
 6. The system of claim 1, where the social network tagfurther comprises a social network tag identification symbol, and theprocessor is further programmed to: provide, to the user in response todetection of the social network notification symbol followed by thesocial network tag identification symbol as part of the user input, alist of currently-available social network tag keywords defined withinthe social network; receive, via the user input device, a user-selectedcurrently-available social network tag keyword from the provided list asthe text keyword of the user input; and append the user-selectedcurrently-available social network tag keyword to the detected socialnetwork tag identification symbol.
 7. A computer program product,comprising: a computer readable storage medium having computer readableprogram code embodied therewith, where the computer readable programcode when executed on a computer causes the computer to: detect, inassociation with a social network user interface, user input comprisinga social network notification symbol followed by a social network tag,where the social network tag comprises a text keyword that identifies asocial network topic within the social network; determine a subset ofsocial network users within the social network that follow the socialnetwork topic identified by the text keyword of the social network tag;define a referential third-party social network user notification subsetwithin the social network as the determined subset of social networkusers within the social network that follow the social network topic;and publish, to the defined referential third-party social network usernotification subset within the social network, a referential third-partysocial network notification comprising the detected user input thatcomprises the social network notification symbol followed by the socialnetwork tag.
 8. The computer program product of claim 7, where thecomputer readable program code when executed on the computer furthercauses the computer to detect an additional text portion of the userinput following the social network notification symbol and the socialnetwork tag; and where, in causing the computer to publish, to thedefined referential third-party social network user notification subsetwithin the social network, the referential third-party social networknotification comprising the detected user input that comprises thesocial network notification symbol followed by the social network tag,the computer readable program code when executed on the computer causesthe computer to: publish the social network notification symbol followedby the social network tag followed by the additional text portion of theuser input within the referential third-party social networknotification.
 9. The computer program product of claim 8 where theadditional text portion of the user input comprises a question asked bythe user within the user input, and where the computer readable programcode when executed on the computer further causes the computer tocomprising: detect a response to the question from at least one socialnetwork user that received the referential third-party social networknotification; and send the detected response to the user that asked thequestion published within the referential third-party social networknotification.
 10. The computer program product of claim 7, where thecomputer readable program code when executed on the computer furthercauses the computer to: add, to the defined referential third-partysocial network user notification subset, at least one additional socialnetwork user tagged within the social network with the social networktag.
 11. The computer program product of claim 7, where the user inputfurther comprises a logical combination operator specified by the userand an additional social network tag, where the additional socialnetwork tag comprises an additional text keyword that identifies anadditional social network topic within the social network, and where thecomputer readable program code when executed on the computer furthercauses the computer to: determine an additional subset of social networkusers within the social network that follow the additional socialnetwork topic identified by the additional text keyword of theadditional social network tag; and where, in causing the computer todefine the referential third-party social network user notificationsubset within the social network, the computer readable program codewhen executed on the computer further causes the computer to: define thereferential third-party social network user notification subset withinthe social network as a logical combination of the determined subset ofthe social network users that follow the social network topic and thedetermined additional subset of the social network users that follow theadditional social network topic.
 12. The computer program product ofclaim 11, where, in causing the computer to define the referentialthird-party social network user notification subset within the socialnetwork as the logical combination of the determined subset of thesocial network users that follow the social network topic and thedetermined additional subset of the social network users that follow theadditional social network topic, the computer readable program code whenexecuted on the computer causes the computer to one of: where thelogical combination operator comprises a logical union operator: form alogical union of all of the determined subset of the social networkusers that follow the social network topic and the determined additionalsubset of the social network users that follow the additional socialnetwork topic; and where the logical combination operator comprises alogical exclusion operator that specifies exclusion of followers of theadditional social network tag: filter to remove any social network usersthat follow the additional social network topic identified by theadditional text keyword of the additional social network tag from thesubset of the social network users that follow the social network topicidentified by the text keyword of the social network tag.
 13. Thecomputer program product of claim 7, where the social network tagfurther comprises a social network tag identification symbol, and wherethe computer readable program code when executed on the computer furthercauses the computer to: provide, to the user in response to detection ofthe social network notification symbol followed by the social networktag identification symbol as part of the user input, a list ofcurrently-available social network tag keywords defined within thesocial network; receive a user-selected currently-available socialnetwork tag keyword from the provided list as the text keyword of theuser input; and append the user-selected currently-available socialnetwork tag keyword to the detected social network tag identificationsymbol.